American journal of physiology. Heart and circulatory physiology
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Am. J. Physiol. Heart Circ. Physiol. · Jun 2001
Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical TrialNonlinear dynamics of heart rate variability in cocaine-exposed neonates during sleep.
The aim of this study was to determine the effects of prenatal cocaine exposure (PCE) on the dynamics of heart rate variability in full-term neonates during sleep. R-R interval (RRI) time series from 9 infants with PCE and 12 controls during periods of stable quiet sleep and active sleep were analyzed using autoregressive modeling and nonlinear dynamics. There were no differences between the two groups in spectral power distribution, approximate entropy, correlation dimension, and nonlinear predictability. ⋯ However, approximate entropy, correlation dimension, and nonlinear prediction error were all decreased in active versus quiet sleep; in addition, the parametric model revealed a doubling of the linear component and a halving of the nonlinear contribution to overall heart rate variability. Spectral analysis indicated a shift in relative power toward lower frequencies. We conclude that 1) RRI dynamics in infants with PCE and normal controls are similar; and 2) in both groups, sympathetic dominance during active sleep produces primarily periodic low-frequency oscillations in RRI, whereas in quiet sleep vagal modulation leads to RRI fluctuations that are broadband and dynamically more complex.
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Am. J. Physiol. Heart Circ. Physiol. · Jun 2001
Erythrocyte deformability is a nitric oxide-mediated factor in decreased capillary density during sepsis.
Erythrocyte deformability has been recognized as a determinant of microvascular perfusion. Because nitric oxide (NO) is implicated in the modulation of red blood cell (RBC) deformability and NO levels increase during sepsis, we tested the hypothesis that a NO-mediated decrease in RBC deformability contributes to decreased functional capillary density (CD) in remote organs. With the use of a peritonitis model of sepsis in the rat [cecal ligation and perforation (CLP)] and aminoguanidine (AG) to prevent increases in NO, we measured CD in skeletal muscle (intravital microscopy), mean erythrocyte membrane deformability (; micropipette aspiration), systemic NO production [plasma nitrite/nitrate (NO(x)) chemiluminescence], and NO accumulation in RBC [NO bound to hemoglobin (HbNO) detected by electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy]. ⋯ AG prevented increases in NO(x), accumulation of HbNO, and decreases in both and functional CD. We found no evidence of leukocyte plugging postcapillary venules. Our findings suggest that decreased functional CD during sepsis resulted from a NO-mediated decrease in erythrocyte deformability.
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Am. J. Physiol. Heart Circ. Physiol. · Jun 2001
Clinical TrialSympathetic restraint of respiratory sinus arrhythmia: implications for vagal-cardiac tone assessment in humans.
Clinicians and experimentalists routinely estimate vagal-cardiac nerve traffic from respiratory sinus arrhythmia. However, evidence suggests that sympathetic mechanisms may also modulate respiratory sinus arrhythmia. Our study examined modulation of respiratory sinus arrhythmia by sympathetic outflow. ⋯ Both spectral power data and the damped oscillator model indicate that cardiac sympathetic outflow markedly reduces heart period oscillations at all frequencies. This challenges the notion that respiratory sinus arrhythmia is mediated simply by vagal-cardiac nerve activity. These results have important implications for clinical and experimental estimation of human vagal cardiac tone.